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ARCHIVED - Spanish socialist government calls striking groups ultra-rightwing and deploys 23,500 extra police
Organisers of the protesting truckers have been excluded from crisis talks for representing not workers, but a “violent minority”
As Spanish transport workers and HGV drivers take to the picket lines for the fifth day of their indefinite strike, the country’s socialist government has tarred the protestors as “ultra-rightwing” and accused the extreme right of instigating “violent behaviour”.
The strike has been organised by the Platform for the Defence of the National and International Road Freight Transport Sector in response to the rising cost of fuel in Spain, which is making freight driving virtually unviable. In protest, the drivers are engaging in go-slow drives along Spanish motorways and causing massive traffic jams.
Transportistas colapsan la autovía #A7 en Murcia#HuelgaTransporte pic.twitter.com/ANIgXB6MNx
— SocialDrive (@SocialDrive_es) March 18, 2022
Now, the protestors have been called out for engaging in violence with “sticks, stones and nails”, prompting the government to mobilise more than 23,500 additional agents – 16,476 Guardia Civil and another 7,122 police officers – to “repress” the attacks.
Furthermore, the Spanish Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, has stated that she will not sit down with these groups as she does not recognise them as valid “interlocutors”, saying that they “are not representative”.
“We are not talking about a strike or a lockout. They are groups supported by the ultra-right that use violence and not words to put forward their demands,” Sánchez declared after meeting with other trade unions, including the National Road Transport Committee (CNTC), to try and finalise a national response plan to the crisis arising from the war in Ukraine, which will be approved on March 29.
The platform calling the strike was not present at the meeting, though, as Ms Sánchez said it “represents who it represents: not the sector, but a violent minority.”
“It is clear who is supporting and legitimising those violent people who are trying to intimidate hauliers who want to work,” she said, referencing some acts of sabotage against lorry drivers who do want to keep working, such as slashing their tyres.
The president of the Platform has, in turn, criticised the government and says his organisation is “apolitical”.
The transport strike is putting food supplies at risk and is already affecting the supply of milk, fruit, vegetables and fish in supermarkets.
Image: Social drive
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